Sunday, April 25, 2010
Sign Of The Times: The Irrefutable Reason
I was chatting on the phone with my good friend Ms. M. She is an octogenarian in good health, and out of necessity (and fortunately with considerable ability) works full-time at a job she has had for quite some years. Ms. M. described a recent story that seems both a message about the economic times we live in and a tale of the worst of these times, with one of the most deplorable participants in the workplace today.
Ms. M. had failed to receive her latest paycheck. Indeed, it was about a month late.
"Why are you holding my paycheck?" asked Ms. M.
"Because I can," answered her mean mother of a boss.
I guess you can't argue with that in these times. Welcome to the Republican era of deficit management: "borrow" your employees' funds to underwrite your own deficit. Don't set any cash on the table; it may walk off...
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i used to work for a company that did this, but whenever you asked 'dude, where's my paycheck?' the answer was always 'you didn't turn in your time card' which was a lie. this happened [repeatedly] to a number of us who worked there, and at least one person had the resources to file a lawsuit against them, but the rest of us just had to go find other jobs where we could actually depend on the pay.
ReplyDeletehipparchia, it's unconscionable when anyone perpetrates it on anyone... theft of paid labor is no different from theft of money, IMHO. But when it's done to someone who is eighty-something years old, I just want to pound the perp with my cane.
ReplyDeleteI don't think such people give much thought to matters of conscience. The small amount of research done in real-world cases suggests that is true: whatever the managers think about, it isn't about "is this the right thing?"